Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Ahab, Jezebel
and God’s People

Introduction

This election season has caused great division among the
people of God. The adage that history
repeats itself, has never been more true.
In the books of the Kings and Chronicles, we see a divide between God’s
people as Israel and Judah went their separate ways and chaos and turmoil
headlined every chapter. During the time
of the divided Kingdom, Israel suffered thru a long line of wicked rulers and
two of them, Ahab and Jezebel bear a striking resemblance to the character of
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Understanding their sins, worldview and judgment will be instructive as
we choose between these two rulers for our nation in 2016.

Ahab

1 Kings 16:31-33 (NKJV) 31 And it came to pass,
as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam
the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of
the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. 32 Then
he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in
Samaria. 33 And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to
provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were
before him.

1 Kings 21:25-26 (NKJV) 25 But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do
wickedness in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. 26
And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all
that the Amorites had done,
whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.

1.The sins of Jeroboam – Idolatry

The first indictment against Ahab was his continuation of
the sins of previous rulers, namely that of Jeroboam. The sin of Jeroboam in general was that of
idolatry. Idolatry is rampant in American
culture. It shows up in our worship of
self, of wealth, and health. These sins
are evident in the life of Donald Trump, whose name is his brand. He represents, for most Americans, the type of
lifestyle that we aim for; to be rich and powerful and full of vigor at a time
of life when most would retire.

2.Trivialized sin

The second sin of Ahab we will consider is the trivialization
of sin as listed in 1 Kings 16:31. This
too is a prominent sin within our culture.
Years of humanism has led to each individual choosing their own personal
morality. This has caused a rise in
moral relativism, and licentiousness has not only become tolerated, but
celebrated. We now promote sins that
were once unspeakable. Even sins against
children and babies have been trivialized as nothing more than a woman’s right
to choose.

3.Married Jezebel

According to John McArthur, Ahab’s greatest sin was in
marrying Jezebel. I find it interesting
that we espouse sin by the people we attach ourselves with. Ahab was greatly influenced by Jezebel and
without her cunning and vicious hatred for the people of God; Ahab may have
gone down as just another name on a long list of wicked kings.

4.Served and worshipped Baal

Success! Baal was a
god of fertility, he was worshiped in order to increase crops, to have healthy
and strong children. He was a god of
winning. Both candidates offer promises
of prosperity and success, but Donald Trump has truly embraced this message
with his slogan of “Make America great again.”
What many of God’s people should desire is to make America good again. Greatness is never the goal. Greatness comes as the fruit of the blessings
of the Almighty as He responds to the goodness of His people.

5.Willing to skirt law to obtain Nabal’s
vineyard

The final story of Ahab is summed up in his dealings with
his neighbor Nabal. Ahab wanted to have
Nabal’s vineyard for a personal vegetable garden. He offered him a great deal, the only issue
was that Nabal was a man of God and would not sell family property for personal
gain. Ahab proved his depravity in that
he was willing to make a shady deal for what he wanted even if it violated the
laws of God. When rebuffed, he became
depressed and sullen because he was not used to not getting what he
wanted. We err when we are willing to
skirt the laws, to bend the rules in our favor.
We as a nation are spoiled and selfish, and ripe for the harvest of God’s
judgment.

6.Provoked God to anger

1 Kings 16:33 states
that “Ahab did more to provoke the LORD
God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.” He was the worst offender to date. His actions exceeded those of all that had
come before and he goes down in history as the most notorious king in the
history of Israel. Wickedness is
progressive. Nations do not fall as
would stones dropped from a cliff. They descend. Degradation of kings and countries is most
often generational. We are now where we
are because we have continued the sins of the ones before us, and taken it
further down the path than was ever thought possible. This election offers us two of the most
exposed and corrupt options for leadership of our nation. This is not a sudden turn of events. We did not arrive here out of nowhere. We have been on this path for many years and
the place we find ourselves in is the place we have been headed all along.

Jezebel

1 Kings 18:4 (NKJV) 4 For so it was,
while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah had taken one
hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread
and water.

2 Kings 9:22 (NKJV) 22 Now it happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" So he
answered, "What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel
and her witchcraft are so
many?"

1.The massacre of the prophets

The first step in Jezebel’s evil plan was to remove the
influence of God from the nation of Israel.
She did so by massacring the prophets.
My greatest fear with a Hillary Clinton presidency is not death squads,
but the continuation of the policy of progressive liberalism that has already
done so much damage to the church in America.
As the homosexual agenda has already accomplished victories in the
bathroom, hate speech, and employment, it will soon be illegal to hold a
biblical position on any moral issue.

2.The promotion of Baal worship

The height of Baal worship was the sacrificing of children
for the purpose of prosperity. Many have
pointed out the obvious correlation to abortion, but this can be applied so
much further. One thing that I believe
this election is about is the future of America for our children and
grandchildren. Although this is perhaps
always the case with elections, it is evident that with as many as 3 or 4
possible seats of the Supreme Court open, we must realize that the election is
about more than just the executive branch.

3.The conspiracy to murder Nabal

Although it was Ahab that coveted Nabal’s vineyard, it was
Jezebel who sent false accusers to have him set up and put to death. The story in I Kings 21 show a level of
manipulation and deceit that we see in the behaviors of Hillary Clinton. Without the revelations of stolen emails, we
would be forever relegated to conspiracy theorists. However, with the publication of these
emails, the term “theorist” no longer applies.
There is a level of corruption and cunning that far exceeds the carnal
selfishness of Ahab, willing even to coordinate accusations and murder.

4.Harlotries and witchcraft

By the time we get to the judgment of Jezebel in II Kings 9,
we see the summary of her sins as both harlotries and witchcraft. The witchcraft no doubt stems from the lewd
and evil worship of Baal, the massacre of the prophets and the desecration of
God’s holy law. The interesting
accusation is that of harlotry. Now we
do not believe that Jezebel was in need of working the streets as a lowly
harlot for wages. However, what we do
see is the prostitution of position for political and selfish gain. This has been shown to be the case with Mrs.
Clinton in all of her time as a “public servant.” In that time the Clinton foundation has been
used to launder money in exchange for political favors and influence. Go no further than the earthquake of Haiti
where FOB’s (Friends of Bill) were awarded contracts for reconstruction or the
nearly million dollar salary for Chelsea and you cannot escape the prostitution
of our most sacred offices and positions.

The “Jezebel” of Thyatira (The spirit of Jezebel)

Revelation 2:20-22 (NKJV) 20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you
allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce
My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.21 And
I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.22 Indeed
I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into
great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.

1.Called herself a prophetess

The obvious sin here is to claim to speak on behalf of God,
while in fact seeking selfish ends. All
too often on both sides of the aisle we see politicians claim to be doing God’s
work. They claim to be Christian, may
even label themselves with some denomination, yet reject the Word of God and
refuse to allow their campaigns and leadership to be in submission to God’s
Word.

2.Led people to immorality

The seduction to immorality is not a difficult job. We live in a culture where sex is pervasive
and many people today are not just addicted to immorality, we have arrived at
the place where Romans 1 has warned. We
don’t just tolerate immorality, we celebrate it. Pride is the word used to describe the
immorality. The more we promote this and
attempt to normalize this, the more we seduce the children of this and future
generations to accept and participate in immorality.

3.Led people to eat things offered to idols

At first glance, this seems like a strange accusation. It requires us to understand the practical
aspects of idol worship. In many
countries today people bring actual food and place it before idols of stone and
wood. As you can imagine, wood and stone
idols do not eat that food proving that they are indeed not gods. The priests collect the meat and food offered
and sell it out the back door. As you
can imagine this is both a lucrative and hypocritical process. In order for priests and worshippers to buy
and sell offered food, they have to willingly ignore the truth about the gods
they worship. The sin here is that of
willful ignorance. At some point we
close our minds to the obvious truth, choosing rather to participate in a shell
game for our own personal benefit. What
is obvious to many is the willful ignorance of those in the political process
when it comes to truth. Even when truth
is revealed by Wikileaks, the media and many on the left choose rather to
ignore the facts. They do not bring
truth into the equation therefore they come to untruthful conclusions.

The People of God

Obadiah

1 Kings 18:3-4 (NKJV) 3 And Ahab had called Obadiah, who was in
charge of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly. 4 For
so it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah had
taken one hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them
with bread and water.)

1 Kings 18:9 (NKJV) 9 So he said,
"How have I sinned, that you are delivering your servant into the hand of
Ahab, to kill me?

The first type of reaction we see by the people of God is
displayed in the actions of Obadiah.
Obadiah was a godly man who was high up in the ranks of the
kingdom. Yet he allowed fear to cause
his actions for God to be done in secret.
He understood the dangers of being open in his loyalties, but he also
understood and feared the Lord.

Today, we find many Christians who do fear God. Their integrity and hard work has allowed
them to climb to the top of their companies and positions of power even in our
own government. There are Christians in positions
of influence, yet they choose to do their works in private. They do what they can as long as it is in
secret.

Scripture does not seem to give a commendation nor condemnation
of Obadiah’s work. There are many
Christians who will choose to do the work of Obadiah during this election process. They will keep their ballot and beliefs
secret, they may contribute to a candidate without desiring that to be made
known publically, but at the end of the day they chose to do what they could to
affect a difference in the process and outcome.

Elijah

Elijah, on the other hand was active and bold at times, and
absent and timid at others. Yet, each
time God prodded him to go and confront the evil in the palace, he did so with
wisdom and strength. In this political
season, I feel that God is leading me to speak out against the evil in our
government. Not for the sake of
political or personal gain, but for the sake of truth.

Conclusion:

We have arrived not at this place in our politics by
accident. The two remaining candidates
we have before us represent America whether we like it or not. We have been given a choice between Ahab and
Jezebel. One of these two will lead our
country for the next 4 years. The first
decision we must make is as to what we will do with the evidence presented to
us. Will we search out the truth, study
and understand the issues or will we float along with our preconceptions and
party loyalties. The second decision is
for us to understand the role that God has for us in the process. Are we called to be an Obadiah who does God’s
work in secret or are we to be an Elijah who stand up against Ahab and Jezebel,
who fights with truth and strength in the power of God? The latter, I believe is the role of salt and
light that I have been called to as a pastor.
I should speak up. I should go to
the scriptures, and I should publish my findings in the hope of affecting the direction
of our nation.

In the end, we cannot sit this one out and be right with
God. We must choose a role. We must be Obadiah or Elijah. So as we head to the polls on November 8th
we will cast our vote for one of two types of candidate. One is an Ahab; an idolatrous, self-promoting,
self-serving, and reckless tyrant. The
other is a Jezebel; an evil, murderous, manipulative tyrant.

So who should Christians vote for? A third party vote being a vote with the
majority of the engaged, it cannot and should not be even considered as
anything other than a refusal to participate in the process. You can justify yourself by calling it a protest,
but with the exception of the Libertarian party it will garner less than one
percent of the vote. Not even a blip on
the map of history. Do not waste your
vote.

The best option as I study the culture, the candidates, and
the scripture is Donald Trump. He is
immoral, he is carnal, an idolatrous, and a self-promoting individual. However, compared to Hillary Clinton, he is
the better option. Here is why. Clinton is Jezebel to Trumps Ahab. Ahab sought luxury and promotion, but
Jezebel sought power and to fundamentally change the spiritual nature of
Israel. Her massacre of the prophets
foretells the actions of Hillary Clinton as she closes the doors of Christian
schools and colleges. Her promotion of
immorality and the homosexual agenda will end the first amendment rights of
pastors and churches to preach God’s Word. Her Supreme Court appointments will close the
door to any legal appeal to the preservation of our freedom of religion in this
country. America will be changed fundamentally
at its core. Trump may be all the things
he is accused of being. Only time will
tell. The stated agenda of Mrs. Clinton
is to continue to push the immoral agenda of the last leaders of our
country. If she is elected, and this
prophet survives the massacre, maybe one day I will see Mount Carmel. That is, if God even deems our nation worthy
of restoration.